Ok I’ll be honest I’m writing this at 446am on Friday Aug 25 because I’m pretty sure Substack is going to publish an interview I did with
Hamish McKenzie
last week about Notes. I figure that’ll mean a lot of new eyeballs on Both Are True, which means a lot of people arriving here and wondering to themselves ‘what the fuck is going on here?
Here’s what the latest paid subscribers have to say about BAT:
I cover a lot in this post, so if you want to jump to one of the sections below, GO FOR IT.
What the fuck is going on here
I don’t know.
Seriously, I’m trying to figure it out as I go. the whole thing being a conversation between myself and my dumb anxious thoughts and nearly 6,000 human beings who subscribe. So far, I’ve focused on my background (immigrant from Ukraine, Jewish, loottttaa mental health stuff) and how it affects the person I am today (father, artist, just a lil guy).
I share my shame, analyze my anxiety, make the jokey jokes, and hope it’ll all help me feel less bad.
Here’s what a subscriber said:
“It’s the newsletter equivalent of The Office.”
You’ll usually chuckle, sometimes you’ll laugh out loud, sometimes there’s a cringe-by-design moment, sometimes you’ll rethink your whole goddamn life. And most times, you’ll have all those things happen to you in just one newsletter.”
Stick around and feel less bad with me?
IMPORTANT: I am a writer and this is how I make money
Ok fuck it I’m done pussycatfooting around - I’m a writer. This Substack is how I make money to support my family.
I really have only been able to say that because of all the subscribers who have become paid so far - they gave me courage and whatever.
But now its like, the shit is real and the game is on. I take this newsletter seriously even though its largely about toddler poop, and I want to - cringe alert - provide value for the readers.
All subscribers get…
BATheads are a ragtag bunch with HEART! (Or mental illness or whatever you have when you don’t have the regular thing other people have.) Anyway, come hang out with us.
You’ll get twice-a-week-ish essays that are free, on the house, zero total dollars.
Paid subscribers get…
Deeply hilarious, personal essays that I’m too nervous for everyone to read, like this one about addiction
Invitations to participate in YAMA/MAYA, a thread where You Ask Me Anything, Me Ask You Anything, like this one about family
Consider subscribing - your contributions keep this little rag of a mag going.
Monthly Subscription: For the low cost of SEVENTEEN CENTS A DAY you can become a monthly paid subscriber (ok in February its 18.6 cents a day).
Yearly Subscription: Or you can pay for a whole year for THIRTEEN CENTS A DAY. This deal is such a wow I can’t believe its even legal oh wait the IRS is knocking on my door I bet they’re gonna yell at me please hurry and become a paid subscriber before they bust me.
Founding Member Subscription: For $198.76 a year aka FIFTY FOUR CENTS A DAY you get everything above and also I will give you TWO free sessions of one on one writing help which means two edits and a phone call on your essay this is a steal I usually charge more for this but not here not with you wow !
"Something about your writing has compelled me to not only subscribe, but also pay and now make my first ever public comment on the internet outside my personal social media accounts.”
— Jason
So what do I actually write?
Lol good question. What if this was one of those super long landing pages for a course where you keep scrolling to see what the guy actually does and how much it costs but you keep scrolling forever in a Kaskaesque fashion?
That’d be funny. It’d also be funny if Kafka wrote about the internet I wonder what he’d say.
I do write stuff though. Here are some of Both Are True’s most popular essays:
can everyone kindly shut the fuck up about AI
The robots aren't coming, but the people who can't shut the fuck up about them are already here.
Wait the Piña Colada song is about what?!
hint: its not about frikkin piña coladas I can tell you that right now
What does your stupid art even do for the world?
asking for a friend asking for nick cave asking for my son asking for me
My posts about growing my substack / using notes / etc
How I grew this newsletter from 56 to 2,177 subscribers in less than a year
I, Alex Dobrenko, by the power vested in all of you actually, have somehow amassed a readership of 2,177, which just so happens to be the exact number tattooed on my arm:
a bunch of tips for using Notes + my origin story using the platform++
a nice primer before today's Notes on Notes workshop at 10am pst with Hamish
We have reached 3211 free / 111 paid subs which means...
HOLY BALLS!! We did it. The golden ratio of 3211 free subscribers to 111 paid subscribers has been reached, just as the prophecy foretold! Y’all remember I said I’d do my first ‘if I did it, here’s how’ post when I hit 2177 subscribers because that number was tattoo’d on my arm, yea?
Comments?
One of the most fun parts of BAT are the comment sections. People say they’re more fun than Times Square on December 41st. Got any comments or questions or ideas? Comment here I read em all and I do indeed weep.
It’s about time I became a paid subscriber for all you’ve done for your friends and admirers. Take a deep breath, Alex. You are loved.
Alex: I would like to share with you the story of an actor who seems to have been really fearless, and something of an organizer.... Her name was Ingeborg Franke, and she lived in my town, Berlin.... https://toppersherwood.substack.com I dunno. Maybe we can work some kinda trade, where I give you a subscription and you prompt me to comment in Notes.... (which I don't really ...uh...do....)